Mr. Speaker, finding someone to donate a kidney is hard, so hard in fact that 153 people died in 2012 waiting for an organ transplant. There are 4,400 Canadians waiting today.
That is why Colin Perera, who is the late stages of kidney failure, was thrilled when his nephew from Sri Lanka offered to donate his. Imagine Colin's heartbreak when the nephew was denied a visitor's visa to come here for the operation. Colin was so devastated that he told his doctors to take him off painful dialysis and let him die peacefully.
He was sent to my office instead, and I asked the Minister of Immigration for a special permit. The minister's office provided topnotch treatment and quickly agreed. The surgery is scheduled for next month.
On behalf of a thrilled Colin Perera and all of his family, I thank the brilliant staff in both the minister's office and mine for helping to save this man.